Festive fans travel for HOF Game
CANTON — Maria Brooks and Tom Hornick came from Monterey, Calif., and brought their orange wigs and sparkly star-shaped sunglasses with them.
The couple, both wearing No. 24 Broncos jerseys for Thursday’s game, was in town to see Champ Bailey and Pat Bowlen’s family.
“Oh my God, we’re the most excited,” Brooks shouted.
“You can’t tell?” Hornick said, laughing. They’ll also be at the Enshrinees’ Gold Jacket Dinner, which is the event they prepared the most for.
“I’ve got the orange and he’s got the blue,” Brooks said, adding that they’d probably leave the wigs at home.
The Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons 14-10 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Thursday night, marking the first major event of Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls and the start of the NFL’s 100th season.
Fans posed for selfies in front of banners with photos of the class, members of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps sprawled out alongside their equipment for the halftime show, and hundreds of people decked out in orange and blue filled the seats to see the Broncos play.
Chuck DeVorss barely could make a stop at the concession stand without being stopped for a photo. The “Broncnator” from Arvada, Colo., is a member of the Pro Football Ultimate Fan Association and has made nine trips to Canton.
DeVorss was wearing head-to-toe Broncos gear, including a blue hard hat with an orange mohawk and America flags, and he’d painted his beard bright-orange. But the best part of his outfit, he said, was probably the white horse mounted on each shoulder.
He was not the only super fan wandering around Benson Stadium before the game.
Keith Birchall, New England Patriots season ticket holder, made the trip to Canton from Rhode Island “because Ty Law’s getting inducted.” Birchall had his face painted all silver — not unlike the Tin Man from “The Wizard of Oz” — and was handing out autographed “Silver Bullet” photos of himself.
But it wasn’t the game he was most looking forward to. “The induction ceremony, to see all the players that so well deserve to be here,” he said.
Also attracting attention were Stark County locals Tim Parsons and Chris Nelson, also known as “the Ultimate Packer Backer” and “Pack Attack.”
The Green Bay Packers fans wore their cheeseheads, of course, along with green and gold streamers, and capes.
They just do their own thing every year, they said, as a little boy waited to pose for a picture with them.
And that’s the best part, Parsons said: “Seeing the reaction from the fans.”